Larkin's Landing_A Tombora Springs Mystery

by SK Wee

  “How much longer is he going to stay in?”

  “He thinks he’ll get stateside duty next fall. Then he wants me to go wherever that is and get married. He says he gets more money if he’s married and doesn’t want to wait any longer than he absolutely has to. But he’s sure that he wants to re-enlist when the time comes. He loves his job and says he wants to take over the Landing when his parents can’t handle it anymore, but he needs to get the money saved up to buy them out.”

  “At least if he’s stateside it won’t be so hard to see him now and then. I’m sure even his parents must miss him terribly.”

  “Yes, they ask about him constantly, knowing that I talk to him several times a week. Thank goodness for computers and Skype, though I’m getting to the point that I really need the real thing. One thing about Raine and me, we were always good together in bed and I sure do miss that.” Tara covered her mouth when she exposed this secret, and though she seemed a little embarrassed, I was very happy for her.

  “Hmm . . . I wonder what that would be like.” I smiled, trying to put her at ease. “I did run into the most interesting man at the store yesterday. Took my breath away and left me shaking even though he had his wife with him.”

  “Haha, that’s funny. I can’t help but think your true love will show up someday. I don’t believe your husband is near good enough for you. Have you considered leaving him?”

  “I don’t want to go down that road, Tara. What we have together is far from perfect, but he’s not all that bad either. I’ve seen many worse matches that have managed to work through their problems and stay married.”

  “Hmm . . . Marriage shouldn’t be something you manage to work through. It should be an adventure, a wonderful unity of mind and spirit.”

  “Let me mention that again after you’ve been married a few years, Tara. I’d love to see your reaction.”

  “So would I.” I heard a chair scrape across the floor and looked over as Cal joined us at our table. When I looked over at Tara, I noticed her face had turned a lovely shade of pink.

  “Cal, what are you doing here? I thought we were safe here.”

  “Oh, you’re safe from me. I stop in here now and then. I was just passing through town and stopped for a cup of coffee. How’s it going, Fee? Everything all right?”

  “Better than nothing.” I assumed he meant my relationship with Rich. “No, we’re getting along just fine. I’ve started back to work at the store. As long as I keep busy, I’m okay.”

  “Tara, how’s your investigation going?” When I looked at Cal with confusion, he added, “Tara seems to think she can handle the investigation better than I can, isn’t that right?” He flashed his most charming smile at poor Tara.

  “I never said that, Cal. I just have some ideas that float around inside my head and sometimes they pop out of my mouth before I can stop them.” Tara looked down at her plate, obviously embarrassed.

  “Cal, I think you should apologize to Tara. She is trying to locate a friend anyway she can think of.”

  “Yes, I am sorry, Tara. Forgive me?” Cal gave Tara the full dimpled grin that I’ve yet to see anyone disregard.

  “I’ll forgive you when you find Bonnie. Sitting here with us is not getting you any closer to that goal, is it?” Tara wore her fierce protective look. I had seen it earlier when she admonished Rich for cheating on me. Nobody crossed someone she cared about.

  “As you wish. I’ll just get my coffee and be on my way. Good to see you again, Fee.” Cal swung the chair back to where he got it and paid the waitress for his coffee and left.

  “You weren’t very nice to him. I sense that he rubs you the wrong way. Cal is an old friend of mine, and he means no harm. He’s actually a very nice guy.”

  “Yeah, he certainly can rub me the wrong way.” The way Tara said it held more meaning than what I was going for. That dimpled grin of his must have melted some ice.

  Chapter Six

  Tara

  By the time I got back to the Landing, I was happy I didn’t have to work. I walked through in case anyone needed help but all looked good. Vince sat at the end of the bar joking around with the new guy, Logan. I still didn’t trust the guy, but he certainly was a great help wherever we needed it. I even waited on him and his wife the night before, and even though he looked almost sinister, his wife seemed friendly and warm. How he managed to land a beautiful, elegant lady like that was beyond me.

  Visions of Cal at the café kept going through my mind. No one had a right to look that frigging adorable when apologizing. It should be outlawed. How on earth could you not accept an apology from a face like that? If the face didn’t get you, then whatever was going on between my legs when he looked my way certainly would. The man had me squirming in my seat with just a look!

  I was very happy to take myself upstairs. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, didn’t want to have to be pleasant and warm. I certainly didn’t feel like being accommodating . . . well actually—I did want to and that was the problem. A look like that in a more private setting would have more than tipped the scales toward being accommodating. Whew! What a traitorous body I possessed. Raine was my true love, and I needed to stay strong for him, for us.

  Just as my laptop was beginning to boot up, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number on the caller ID but answered it anyway.

  “I forgot to mention that my request for the dogs came through and I’ll bring them down there tomorrow,” Just thinking of Cal must have conjured him. “Are you going to be around? Maybe you can make sure the hounds don’t miss anything.” Was that sarcasm or did he truly want me to come along?

  “I’ll be waiting for you, Deputy Wagner. In fact, I would like to ensure that nothing is overlooked.” There! Sarcasm or not, I wanted to go along.

  “I suppose you usually sleep late. I wanted to start by nine if that’s okay with you.” Does he think I sleep til noon?

  “Nine will be just fine. I’ll be waiting near the kitchen door. Don’t be late.” I hung up and immediately regretted that. Don’t be late? He was the one who set the time. What a stupid thing to say. Boy, that man irritated the hell out of me. I shut the computer down also. Raine said he would be out of touch for a while and even though it was only a couple of days since I looked at his ruggedly handsome face, I had a hard time bringing it to mind amidst another imposing one. Oh, Raine, you need to get back here!

  The morning came sooner than I wished. I had a difficult time getting to sleep but after tossing and turning for hours, I had finally succumbed to sleep and into a dreamworld filled with blue eyes and dimpled grins. None of which belonged to Raine. I was downstairs and near the kitchen door by eight-thirty, just in case he arrived early.

  When I looked out the window of the kitchen door, I saw the headlights of his county vehicle. Cal was leaning against the back bumper with the Landing’s newest employee standing next to him in deep discussion. Both Logan and his wife were out there. It looked like they may have been out for a stroll, except that is wasn’t even twenty degrees out. I knew which house they lived in now and it wasn’t very far, but still, it seemed strange that they ‘happened to be walking by’ when Cal pulled up.

  It was still early and I decided to see if I could catch some of the conversation, but as soon as I opened the door they stopped talking and all turned toward me.

  “Hi, Tara.” Logan’s wife came over to the back door. “We were just out on our morning stroll before I had to leave for work. It’s supposed to get above freezing today, I bet it’ll feel like spring even though it’s still February.” She conveniently halted my progress, whether on purpose or innocently; I would not be able to hear what Logan and Cal were talking about now. As I looked back over there, they ended their conversation and Logan was approaching us.

  “Good morning, Tara. Nessa, are you ready to trot back home before you’re late for work?” Logan gave me a chilly stare. I still didn’t trust him and wondered why he would suddenly show up when we were planning to ta
ke the dogs out to look for Bonnie.

  “Morning, Logan. Good to see you again, Vanessa.” At least Vanessa smiled warmly at me. I still couldn’t figure out how a chump like Logan could have such a warm and friendly wife. She waved goodbye to Cal, and they started to jog toward their house.

  “Well, are you ready to go then, sunshine?” Cal asked as he came up to where I stood.

  “Want a cup of coffee first? The kitchen isn’t open yet, but I can put a small pot on if you do.” I didn’t have any coffee yet and was now a little chilled.

  “I have some in the car, and we should get the dogs started. I’ll give you a quick training course on how to handle them, and then we’ll begin our search.”

  “What do I need to learn? Don’t they just go out on their own?” The dogs I’ve seen on TV always ran out of the cars and into the woods or whatever.

  “We’ll each have to lead one, it’s easy. Come on.” Cal opened the back door and I heard the whining response from inside. They were much smaller dogs than what I expected. I thought they would be like a German shepherd, but these were small beagle-type dogs. “This one is Lady Silk, you can lead her. This other fella is Markus.”

  “Hello, Lady Silk, aren’t you a pretty girl.” Cal placed her in my arms and handed me a leash. I hooked the leash and set Lady Silk onto the ground. She sniffed around the ground and then sat down. For some reason I thought she would just tear off into the woods with her nose to the ground and me running wildly behind her, trying to keep up.

  “Okay, I’ll teach you a few of the commands while we get to know each other. Let’s start out in this direction.” Cal walked to the left of the building which was opposite of where Bonnie would have gone.

  “Why go this way?” When he glanced impatiently at me, I realized once again that I was not the person in charge. “Sorry, I know I need to get acquainted with Lady. I’ll just follow you around.” There was a large clearing between the restaurant and the beginning of the campground. He led us over there and started to teach me various words to use with Lady. She was so well-behaved and did everything I commanded her to do. I never had a dog when I was growing up but had always wanted one, and now I was having a great time with Lady.

  After practicing in the clearing, we started to walk down several campground roads. Though it didn’t seem like the dogs were doing anything at all, Cal kept an eye on everything they did.

  “Hey, don’t we need something of Bonnie’s so they can sniff her out?” That’s how I’ve seen it done on some of the crime shows I watched. I was sure I could find something of Bonnie’s at the restaurant.

  “No need.” Cal looked over at me with a frown. “Tara, these dogs are trained to sniff out cadavers.” My jaw dropped, he believed Bonnie was dead!

  “Why would you assume she’s dead? She could be hurt somewhere or kidnapped. There are many other explanations for her disappearance.”

  “Just think about it. If she ran away or was kidnapped, we would not find her here. If she is still here, she is probably dead. I really hope she isn’t here, then maybe she is still alive somewhere.” He turned once more and resumed walking. After I thought about it, I realized he was right and hoped that the dogs were a waste of taxpayer dollars.

  As we wandered through the other areas of the resort, I grew bored. I was now sure that we wouldn’t find anything. As Lady and I ambled on, all of a sudden I felt a splat on my shoulder and looked over at Cal who was already making a second snowball. “Hey that wasn’t fair, I wasn’t ready!” I ran behind a stack of wood and grabbed a big handful of snow to throw at him.

  Using the wood pile was a good idea because it kept me from getting hit, but there wasn’t much snow to use for any sort of offensive strike, so eventually I needed to venture farther and farther beyond its security and was hit more times than I could keep track of. “Okay, okay, you win already!” I was never good at snowball fights anyhow.

  “Yeah, we better get back to work. You looked like you were getting bored and I wanted you to liven up.” I couldn’t keep the smile from my face as we continued on down the gravel road.

  “What’s over this way?” Cal pointed toward the path to the left.

  “That’s just the maintenance shed, and there’s a shower room in the back of it.” Everything was locked up for the winter, so I didn’t see any reason to go that way.

  “Looks like someone’s been back this way and quite often.” Cal started back, and I noticed that Lady’s nose was sniffing up into the air. “Come on, Tara! Markus has a scent of something.”

  “I think Lady does too.” Though she didn’t pull hard on the leash, she kept looking back at me like she was telling me to hurry.

  “The door’s not locked. Stay back, Tara, until I say it’s clear . . . please?” He obviously was remembering the last time he told me to wait.

  “Don’t worry, I don’t want to see anything these dogs have found.” I stood farther out. I think Lady wanted to go closer but I told her to sit, and she followed my order even though her nose was still working hard.

  “I’m afraid we found her.” Cal came outside the shed and looked all around the area. “I have to preserve this area until we can investigate completely. I’m sorry, Tara, I really didn’t think we would find her or I wouldn’t have invited you along.”

  “Are you sure, Cal? Maybe it isn’t her.” As soon as I said it, I knew I shouldn’t have. Of course, it was her, who else could it be? Not only that, but I was the only one of the two of us who knew Bonnie and I did not want to identify her body.

  “I have a folder full of her pictures,” Cal stated. “I know it’s her but I do not want you to see her.” I let out a huge sigh of relief, because that was the last thing I wanted to do. I would have nightmares for the rest of my life.

  “I appreciate that. I really don’t want to see her like that. Can you tell how she died? Shouldn’t we call a rescue squad or the county coroner’s office?”

  “I’m not going to speculate on the cause of death.” Cal escorted me farther away from the building. “Yes, I’ve already made the calls, but I need to guard the area until they arrive. If you want to leave, you can. There’s no reason for you to be out in this cold.” I didn’t feel cold at all. It seemed the weather forecasters were right for once and it was turning out to be a nice day.

  “How about that cup of coffee? It’ll be a while before they get here. I’ll run over to the kitchen and get you something. Are you hungry?” When I mentioned the coffee, I saw his eyes light up and then there it was—that wonderful grin. I got goosebumps and it certainly wasn’t from the temperature outside.

  “A fresh cup of coffee would be great! Could you take the dogs back to the car? Thanks, partner.” He smiled so warmly when he called me partner that I couldn’t help but feel important and appreciated. As I made my way back to the kitchen, I was merrily humming all the way, even though we had just discovered the dead body of my friend and co-worker.

  After securing the dogs inside the sheriff’s car, I entered the kitchen to find Logan preparing for lunch service. I had forgotten all about the earlier conversation and my suspicions came back in full force.

  “What are you doing here, Logan? This isn’t your day to work, is it?” I knew Doris usually was in the kitchen for lunch hour and she didn’t like anyone touching her workstation.

  “Hello, again, Tara. Doris needed the day off, her husband was getting knee replacement this morning.” Yes, I remembered that now. She had been talking about it for weeks already.

  “Is there any coffee ready? I need to bring a cup outside.” I found a nearly full pot ready and filled a to-go cup but just before I turned away, I decided to get myself one also. It wouldn’t hurt to give Cal some company while he waited. I found myself wanting to hum once again on my way back but instead, concentrated on my suspicions of Logan.

  As the shed came into view, so too was Cal. He was bent over inspecting something in the snow. The view I now had of him was awesome—the man had a v
ery nice backside. I closed my eyes to stop the image and quickly realized my mistake as my left foot slipped on a patch of melting ice. Down I went as I tried to hang on to the coffee. I hit the ground hard but managed to hang onto one of the cups. Cal was by my side in seconds with a concerned look.

  “Are you all right, Tara?”

  “Oh, just dandy.” Could I be any more embarrassed? Cal held out his arm to help me up. “Thanks, Cal. I saved one of the cups, you can have it.”

  “We can share. I just got a call from the state crime lab, they’re sending a couple people up to investigate but they won’t be here for several hours. The sheriff’s department is charged with guarding the site until then. One of the other deputies is coming to get the dogs, he should be here any minute.” There was a picnic table leaning up against a tree and Cal went over to it and set it down for us to sit on. That was when I remembered my suspicions about Logan.

  “Cal, I think you should do some investigation on Logan Tate. There is something suspicious about him. He shows up here just when Bonnie disappears and fills a vacancy at just the right moment. It feels off for some reason. I don’t trust him at all.”

  “Oh . . . ahh . . . I’m sure Logan is all right. Don’t worry about him, Tara.”

  “How do you know, Cal? Do you really know him? I don’t. He just shows up here out the blue and needs a job even though his wife has an executive position at the hospital. Here he is tending bar and cooking in this little shit-hole for barely minimum wage. It just doesn’t sit well with me at all.”

  “Okay, Tara. I’ll check the guy out, but I’m sure he’s okay. Here have some of this coffee before I finish it all. Oh look, here comes my relief now.” I looked behind us and sure enough, two deputies were approaching.